Rumsfeld wrote:I don't question their ability to take it, just their complete unwillingness to dish it.

Christ I haven't seen them drive the net once this entire series.

They are fucking 200 lb men playing a physical sport and they are our leaders and best players. I just can't respect it.

They've never played that way and certainly aren't going to start now.

So, assuming the Canucks lose this series, what do you do if you're ownership/management? The best regular season Canucks who cannot get it done in the playoffs have one year remaining on their contracts. Do you give it one more kick at the can, look at re-signing them or look at moving on?

As a fan, I'm about done with a lot of this core as presently constructed. Gillis and Acquilini need to look themselves in the mirror in this respect.

Apart from miracles AV is done, the question is, does Gillis walk the plank as well. I still believe AV is a very good coach, but is past his best before date with the lineup. Not too unlike Ruff in Buffalo. Too much responsibility given to the core to right the ship and not enough leadership from the bench. More but kicking from the coach. The opposite end of the spectrum is TO where Carlyle is the only leadership the team has.

Now for Gillis, he has completely misread the league for several years running. The league gives lip service to cracking down and letting skill players play their game, but the reality is, it has never come about outside of the first week of each season. After that you must be bigger and tougher than your opponent because he will hook, hold, interfere and slash you until he gets the puck. It is still better than the ugly clutch and grab days of the 80's and earlier, but it is a far cry from the stated position of the league. Sadly MG bought into that position. Fool me once.......Fool me twice........

With buy out and cap restrictions, there may be a window for rebuild because a lot of teams will be jettisoning players to get below next years cap. Failing that, it is a year before an increasing cap likely kicks in.

herb wrote:As a fan, I'm about done with a lot of this core as presently constructed. Gillis and Acquilini need to look themselves in the mirror in this respect.

This thought process is that it puts us right beside Calgary and Edmonton on the rebuilding list.

However.....

We have the pieces, that should they be willing to waive NTC's and NMC's, that will bring us very nice returns so that the rebuild isn't from the ground up, more of a renovation.

Keeper forwards: Kesler, Burrows, Kassian, Weise, Hansen.

Keeper defense: Hamhuis, Garrison, Bieksa, Tanev.

Goalie: Schneider.

Right there is a core of 7 guys with Kassian and Tanev being developed into a future core players (hopefully) and Weise being a very good 4th line forward who could probably develop into a respectable 3rd line winger.

Lap and Higgins could be kept around, so long as their roles are more clearly defined. Lapierre, in particular, being restricted to the 4th line center role and only seeing 3rd line minutes as an absolute last resort.

We also have some depth pieces worth keeping.....

I would seriously consider keeping Alberts around as a 6/7 guy. He plays mean. His play seems to have smartened up somewhat of late, and he protects the net after the whistle.

Sestito hasn't been a disaster and would make a reasonable addition in the 12-14 spot.

Regardless, no matter what happens with the players the time has come for a new coach, and that has to be addressed first, and very quickly. If they lose tonight, then Gillis needs to clean house behind the bench by the end of the second round. He needs to have a new head coach on board before the end of the playoffs, and that guy has to be a coach who can actually coach an uptempo brand of hockey, the coach has to fit the mold that management is outlining for this team in the long term. Then Gillis and New Coach need to sit down together and identify needs, and the coach needs to give his input as they move forward and start deciding who gets moved (or asked to move) and who they want to target in July as UFA signings. If Gillis waits until the end of the playoffs to axe Vigneault, then it's going to be a shitty summer.....unless he's been talking to AV's replacement on the sly.

The Sedin Dilema: They don't step it up in the playoffs, and we don't make the playoffs without them. It's a catch-22 that Gillis has to solve.

Another big-money forward at the expense of taking a chance with a cheaper defence is what is needed. We need the Hossa-Sharp to go along with the Toews-Kane.

IE impact players up front, not goal-scoring D-men.

San Jose has Braun, Irwin, and Hannan playing playoff minutes all under $1.3M.

How much better would this team look with an extra $12M on the ice (Luongo, Ballard, Malhotra). I don't want to count Booth because injuries happen, but those three are problems that could have been solved because other areas are MUCH more pressing.